Aussie given 10 years in Dubai jail as colleague acquitted

Rick Feneley and Ben Butler

One Australian executive has been sentenced to 10 years' jail in Dubai but his junior colleague acquitted in a spectacular climax to their four-year battle against property fraud charges.

In a verdict on Monday, described as a travesty of justice by Matt Joyce's supporters, the Ruler's Court rejected his defence against claims that he received $6 million in a plot to swindle an Australian developer, Sunland, out of more than $12 million in a Dubai land sale.

But the court found that Marcus Lee, Joyce's colleague at the government-owned Dubai Waterfront, received no money – and that the land deal he helped to prepare was approved by Joyce and other superiors at Nakheel, a Dubai government-owned master developer.

Joyce's lawyers immediately complained of an unjust court process to Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who had contacted personally Dubai's ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, after an Australian court made a damning finding against Sunland and called its executives "unreliable witnesses".

Matt Joyce said: "I am shocked by the extremity of today's verdict. My family and I are still coming to terms with it. I have received 10 years' jail, the maximum possible sentence, and a fine of $25 million Australian dollars, which is double the loss alleged by the prosecution.

"The most difficult part of today's decision is that I’ve been convicted based on the evidence of a witness who was found by an Australian court to have lied.

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"I will of course appeal this decision. I am innocent of the charges against me."

Marcus Lee's Australian lawyer, John Sneddon, said his client's relief was tempered by the guilty verdict for Mr Joyce and another Australian tried in absentia in Dubai, Angus Reed.

But for his client, Mr Sneddon said: "We're absolutely ecstatic with this result. Marcus has just gotten off the phone to his wife, Julie, and said he was still shaking. He's finding it difficult to believe this ordeal is finally coming to a close.

"The acquittal means the court has accepted that Marcus was not involved in any conspiracy to deceive or defraud, that he has committed no crime and that he received no money."

Mr Sneddon was not sure when the Lees would be free to leave Dubai. First they would need to secure the return of their passports, "which they surrendered as part of his bail conditions almost four years ago".

Mr Lee and Mr Joyce had spent nine months in jail in 2009 before being placed under effective house arrest since October that year. Mr Joyce's wife, Angela Higgins, and their three children have been waiting with him in Dubai ever since, as has Julie Lee.

The most difficult part of today's decision is that I’ve been convicted based on the evidence of a witness who was found to by an Australian court to have lied

Ms Higgins said: "I am devastated by this result. My husband is innocent. Our family has been through so much over the last four years and today's decision is much worse than I thought possible.

"Matt needs his family's help now more than ever and we will be staying with him in Dubai to support him through the appeal."

Mr Joyce was managing director of Dubai Waterfront, a subsidiary of the government-owned master developer Nakheel, and Mr Lee its director of commercial operations director.

A Sunland executive, David Brown, accused Mr Joyce and Mr Reed, his old Geelong Grammar schoolmate, of duping him in the property deal. Mr Reed, now back in Melbourne, was also sentenced to 10 years' jail in Monday's verdict.

Mr Brown alleged the pair had claimed Mr Reed's company, Prudentia, had reserved a right to develop a plot of land called D17. It had persuaded him to pay a "consultancy fee" to Prudentia so Sunland could then buy the plot from Nakheel. In earlier prosecution documents, that fee had been translated at just over $12 million. In an expert review of the case – which led to the verdicts – the same figures were translated in US dollars.

The court found that Mr Reed's company and Mr Joyce split the money. Just over $6 million had gone into an account linked to Mr Joyce in the Channel Islands. The expert review said it found no evidence to support Mr Joyce's claim that Nakheel had approved him opening an account and holding the money for Prudentia.

But in the Victorian Supreme Court last year, Justice Clyde Croft dismissed Sunland's civil case against Mr Joyce and Mr Reed and called it a "non-existent fraud". He called the evidence of Mr Brown and Sunland chief executive Soheil Abedian unreliable. He ruled that Mr Joyce and Mr Reed never did mislead Sunland about Prudentia's supposed hold on D17. He said Sunland had been desperate to secure D17 in a hot property market and was eager to pay Prudentia to "walk away".

Mr Reed said: "I am devastated that while the Australian courts have conclusively documented our innocence, the Dubai courts have chosen to ignore revelations that the Dubai prosecutor and court have been repeatedly misled.

"The Australian court’s findings in respect of Sunland’s communications with the Dubai prosecutor highlight that this is a gross miscarriage of justice.

"I call on Australian government to work with the relevant Dubai authorities, so that Matthew can come home."

A spokesman for Prudentia said: "Given the failure of the Dubai courts to consider key documentation from Australia, Prudentia Investments is deeply disappointed, but not surprised, by today’s decision.

"We are, however, shocked at the extreme nature of the guilty verdict announced today. We note that the Dubai courts have not taken into account Justice Croft’s findings as to the lack of credibility of Mr Brown and Mr Abedian as witnesses...

"In particular, we note Justice Croft’s clear findings 'that Sunland commenced and continued the present proceedings in wilful disregard of known facts and law and also for an ulterior purpose'.

"We also note the findings of the Victorian Supreme Court in respect of 'Sunland’s willingness to implicate Joyce 'unjustifiably'."

Prudentia was disappointed that the Australian Securities and Investments Commission was not able to complete an investigation into Sunland in time for its findings to be conveyed to the Dubai Government or courts.

"Prudentia calls on Foreign Minister [Bob] Carr to now work with the Dubai authorities to free Mr Joyce who is the innocent victim of a false complaint by Sunland."